Ma Xiaotao: She Couldn't Think of Any Way She Could Lose

Xu Tianming neither confirmed nor denied Ma Xiaotao's provocation.

Seeing that she had already assumed an attacking stance, Xu Tianming did not underestimate her. He decisively took the Judgment Sword from his storage soul tool and gripped it in his hand.

The instant she saw that greatsword appear, Ma Xiaotao's heart inexplicably shuddered.

There was something strange about this greatsword!

Yet she could not say exactly what was strange about it.

It was as though she would be restrained by this peculiar greatsword.

The thought made Ma Xiaotao somewhat wary, but no more than that.

After all, her soul power exceeded Xu Tianming's by more than ten levels. On top of that, she was a genius student of the Shrek Inner Court. Even if the weapon in her enemy's hand was unusual, there was no way she could lose!

She could even say it right here: so long as no powerhouse stepped in to stop her, defeating the enemy before her would be as easy as eating and drinking!

After all, if she could not defeat an enemy even with an overwhelming advantage in soul power rank, she might as well dig a hole and bury herself. She could not afford that humiliation!

Seeing that Xu Tianming had also readied himself to attack, Ma Xiaotao did not hesitate any longer. She immediately summoned her martial soul, first using her second soul skill, Phoenix Bathes in Fire, to enhance all her attributes.

She then used her third soul skill, Phoenix Wings Soar, summoning a pair of flaming wings and gaining the ability to fly. She leaped into the air, and her fourth soul ring flashed.

"Watch me defeat you in one move! Fourth soul skill, Phoenix Sky-Roaring Strike!"

This was the inherited soul skill of the Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul. The longer it charged, the wider its range and the greater its power. It was no exaggeration to say that an ordinary four-ring Soul Master facing Ma Xiaotao's move would either die or be crippled.

Xu Tianming did not hold back either. He immediately activated the Night Soul Domain and instantly completed ten Night Soul Transfers with his allies within the domain, causing the soul power in his body to surge by a full 100%.

Then, he activated his third soul skill, All-Fire Armament, and fourth soul skill, Burning Radiance Ring, at the same time.

Three pitch-black soul rings flashed in succession, leaving the charging Ma Xiaotao utterly dumbfounded.

"Th... three ten-thousand-year soul rings! How is that possible? You clearly only have four rings. How could you possibly have three ten-thousand-year soul rings? This defies common sense!"

Xu Tianming smiled calmly at her words.

"Heh, common sense? In my view, the very purpose of common sense is to be broken! I am destined to break many of the rules people take for granted, and defeating you is merely the most insignificant of them."

The moment he finished speaking, Xu Tianming activated his fourth soul skill, using Burning Radiance Ring to summon heavenly fire that descended from directly above, beyond Ma Xiaotao's field of vision.

However, as an outstanding student of the Shrek Inner Court, Ma Xiaotao's combat talent was naturally far beyond that of ordinary people. Though she could not see it, the instant Xu Tianming summoned the heavenly fire, she sensed the imminent danger.

But her thoughts were ultimately bound by the "common sense" ingrained in her mind.

Though she sensed danger, she believed it most likely came from Xu Tianming's imminent frontal attack.

And she had never feared a head-on clash with anyone!

That was the confidence bestowed upon her by a top-tier assault-type martial soul!

Yet just as her Phoenix Sky-Roaring Strike was about to finish charging and collide head-on with Xu Tianming's "frontal attack," she suddenly felt a wave of heat directly above her head.

Before she could react, the suddenly appearing heat wave plunged downward at extreme speed, striking her body with perfect accuracy. Not only did it injure her, it also directly interrupted the soul skill she had been on the verge of fully charging.

Xu Tianming had specifically had someone conduct tests regarding the accuracy of heavenly fire.

In the actual tests, even when the targets were prepared in advance, Soul Masters below the Soul Douluo rank still found it difficult to evade.

Even those with Soul Douluo-level cultivation still faced at least a fifty percent chance of being hit by this attack!

Only powerhouses at the Title Douluo level could easily evade heavenly fire. Yet even against a Title Douluo, if they were caught off guard, Xu Tianming still had at least a twenty percent chance of landing a hit.

Thus, it was perfectly normal that Ma Xiaotao could not evade this strike.

Although her Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul was already extremely close in quality to ultimate fire, after taking the attack head-on, she still felt the pain of being scorched.

Combined with the backlash from having her soul skill interrupted, the two layers of damage directly broke her flying state. She fell stiffly to the ground and could not help crying out in pain.

"Argh!!! Damn it! You despicable bastard! You actually launched a sneak attack!"

Faced with Ma Xiaotao's furious glare, Xu Tianming's eyes were filled with mockery.

"Heh. When you fail to react to an enemy's attack in battle, you accuse them of launching a sneak attack. Is such shameless behavior the style of Shrek Inner Court students? I've truly learned something new."

Ma Xiaotao was greatly shocked by his words.

"How did you know my identity?"

Xu Tianming could not even be bothered to answer.

Ma Xiaotao had just been struck by his heavenly fire, weakening the soul power in her body by at least ten percent. Coupled with the backlash caused by her interrupted soul skill, her combat power had fallen by at least thirty percent from its peak.

With such a perfect chance to beat a dog when it was down, Xu Tianming naturally pressed his advantage and went for the kill, firmly refusing to give his enemy any chance to recover.

He once again used Burning Radiance Ring to control heavenly fire and bombard Ma Xiaotao. This time, however, after sensing the danger, she did not attempt to evade. Instead, she directly mobilized the remaining soul power in her body and formed a defensive barrier around herself, composed purely of soul power.

The instant the barrier formed, the heavenly fire struck it.

Seeing that this blast of heavenly fire could not directly shatter Ma Xiaotao's defense, Xu Tianming gave up on continuing to use this move to wear her down.

After all, this soul skill consumed the soul power in his body. Just two attacks had already depleted a full thirty percent of his soul power.

When Ma Xiaotao saw that she had successfully blocked the attack and that Xu Tianming did not continue attacking with that move, she subconsciously assumed that this was all her enemy had.

She had seen it clearly just now. When the heavenly fire attacked, Xu Tianming's fourth soul ring had flashed.

She had already defended against her enemy's strongest soul skill. Could he possibly have some other means of defeating her head-on?

So what if this man was a soul engineer?

A soul engineer with the strength of a four-ring Soul Master, no matter how powerful he was, could not inflict effective damage on her!

At that thought, Ma Xiaotao immediately felt that she was invincible.

After all, even the enemy's "strongest soul skill" could no longer harm her. How could she possibly lose?